Surya's debut film Nerukku Neru opposite the well established and friend of Surya, Illayathalapthy Vijay was not successful. With few hits and quite a lot of flop movies like Kaadhale Nimmadhi, Sandhippoma, Periyanna, Uyirile Kalanthathu, came a decent hit movie Poovellam Kettuppar opposite Jyothika, (now Surya's wife).

Then again Surya starred in the movie alongside Vijay, in friends, as a second lead, which was successful for the comic genre of the film.

Next with the Tamil movie Nandha, directed by Bala, came Surya's big break for performance oriented roles. Later on Surya did movies like  Unnai Ninaithu, Shree, which were not successful at the box office. With Mounam Pesiyade, Surya again hit chord with the youngsters, playing the role of a guy who hates love but falls head over heels in love with a girl.

Surya's biggest break in his filmy career was Kakha Kakha directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, a cop story (a police story) with a different approach, which gave a break not just to Surya but also to Gautham. The movie was most sought after for the chemistry shared between Surya and Jyothika. Surya as Anbu selvan can never be forgotten by his fans. The mesmerizing look as a stunning police officer, with immense attitude was fond of by many people.

Another hit was Pithamagan sharing screen space with Vikram , directed by Bala. Surya's performance in Perazhagan in dual role as a handicapped was much appreciated by mass as well as critics.  

Surya ended up doing roles in movies like Vel, Aaru and the recently releases Singam, under the direction of Hari, which gave Surya a mass appeal through village get up roles, Cop's role, and the stylish looking hero. Surya did special appearances in June R, a movie in which Jyothika was starred. Surya also came as himself (the star) in the movie Kuselan, which had Pasupathy, Rajinikanth, Meena in the lead.

Surya's performance in Aayutha Ezhuthu as the educated youth, who struggles to take initiative to the change the political system of our country, under Mani Ratnam's direction was lauded for both his performance and his style of handling roles, alongside Madhavan, Siddharth, Esha deol, Trisha and  Meera Jasmine.

Surya in the Tamil movie Maayaavi as a fun-loving tourist guide, and a prankster who kidnaps actress Jyothika, though was not a commercially successful movie, was appreciated for the duo's performance. Jyothika who performed as herself in the movie, had dubbed in her own voice.

One other movie, which saw the couple Surya-Joe (Jyothika), together on screen was Jillunu Oru Kadhal, which had Bhumika also playing one of the lead roles other than Jyothika. It was a romantic story, which became a musical successful movie for A.R.Rahman's music score.

Surya's stupendous success was with Ghajini, opposite Asin, directed by A.R.Murugadoss, which had made huge collections at the box office.

Surya who adapted to strict dieting and a regimen followed for work outs for a complete six pack physique, for his role in Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram was lauded for his performance as a high school student, college going youth and a Army man, had quite a transformation on screen and people dint believe their eyes who watched Surya's make over, both physically and as an actor in his performance of the  roles escalated by him in the movie.

Surya proved himself to be a mass hero, commercially viable through movies like Ayan, directed by K.V.Anand opposite Tamanna, Aadhavan, directed by K.S.Ravikumar opposite Nayantara. Both these movies made huge profits at the box office.

Surya's upcoming movie 7aam Arivu, again to be directed by the successful partner A.R.Murugadoss, is a much awaited one from the duo. Another exciting aspect is that Surya pairs up with Kamaal Hassan's daughter, the stunner herself Shruti Hassan.

Another most awaited venture of Surya is his partnership with the Bollywood's thriller boss, Ram Gopal Verma for his Rakta Charitra, a trilingual made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi alongside Vivek Oberoi.

Surya probably with the advice from his beau, Joe (Jyothika), is venturing in to the North through this movie. The movie Rakta Charitra can be a brilliant platform for Surya (an actor from south in the lines of Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Vikram) to venture in to Bollywood Hindi movies.